{"id":773247,"date":"2024-05-23T08:03:19","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T06:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=773247"},"modified":"2024-08-19T16:56:23","modified_gmt":"2024-08-19T14:56:23","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1776","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/5-things\/773247\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1776\/","title":{"rendered":"5 important things happening in South Africa today"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Here\u2019s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Despite concerns, Energy Council wants electricity bill enacted: <\/strong>The Energy Council of South Africa has responded to various municipalities&#8217; concerns about the new electricity law&#8217;s constitutionality, stating these issues can be resolved in the planning phase after the bill is signed. Municipalities worry that the Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill, awaiting President Cyril Ramaphosa&#8217;s signature, might restrict their electricity provision roles, potentially violating the constitutional powers of local governments. The Council urges for the bill to be enacted promptly. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/national\/2024-05-23-energy-council-wants-electricity-bill-enacted-despite-municipal-fears\/\">Business Day<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Gazprom deal progresses:<\/strong>&nbsp;PetroSA&#8217;s agreement with Russia&#8217;s Gazprom Bank to upgrade its Mossel Bay gas-to-liquids refinery has progressed to the feasibility stage, despite receiving significant criticism. The state-owned oil company&#8217;s project is now prominently covered in Russia. The civil organization Outa has raised concerns about the South African cabinet&#8217;s quick approval of a R3.7 billion deal with Gazprombank to rejuvenate the refinery, criticizing the lack of transparency and rationale behind the decision. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.citizen.co.za\/business\/petrosa-mossel-bay-gazprom-deal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Citizen<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Fund managers expect post-election equity rally:<\/strong>\u00a0A Bank of America survey reveals that 74% of fund managers focused on South Africa predict a rally in domestic equities post the 29 May election, despite policy shift concerns. A majority, 79%, believe equities and bonds are undervalued, favouring domestic and non-resource rand hedges. With 68% seeing more buying opportunities, there&#8217;s optimism for significant equity returns within a year, particularly in the banking, software, mining, metals, and food production sectors. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/fin24\/markets\/seventy-four-percent-of-fund-managers-expect-post-election-sa-stock-rally-survey-20240522\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">News24<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Pickitup protest continues:<\/strong>\u00a0The casual workers of Pikitup, Johannesburg&#8217;s waste collection company, have been on strike for a week, demanding permanent positions and claiming that they earn as little as R120 per day. This strike has disrupted the city&#8217;s waste removal, leading to the piling-up of uncollected trash. The workers allege unfair practices at Pikitup and have blocked depot access to press for their demands. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sabcnews.com\/sabcnews\/pikitup-casual-workers-strike-over-permanent-employment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SABC<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Markets:<\/strong>&nbsp;The rand fell against the dollar on Wednesday as traders awaited Federal Reserve meeting minutes for hints on the interest rate path of the world&#8217;s biggest economy. On Thursday (23 May), the rand was trading at R18.30 to the dollar, R23.31 to the pound, and R19.69 to the euro. Oil is trading at $81.43 a barrel. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/africa\/south-african-rand-falls-traders-await-fed-meeting-minutes-2024-05-22\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Reuters<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Energy Council wants electricity bill enacted; Gazprom deal progresses; fund managers expect post-election equity rally; and Pickitup protest continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"featured_media":742431,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[18993],"class_list":["post-773247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5-things","tag-5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=773247"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":773270,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773247\/revisions\/773270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/742431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}